Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Meeting new friends

As the weather gets a bit warmer it's good to get out in the fresh air and socialize. I've already met quite a few new friends. Above, the Swan family has relocated from Cove Island to the marsh on the Holyoke side of the river. Mrs. Swan says, "Property taxes are lower here."

Mr. Rooster doesn't feel he should be limited to just mornings. "If I want to express myself, even if it's 3 p.m., who's to stop me?"

When asked why the Rogers brothers, the pickling company from Lunenburg, Mass. stopped making pickled lamb tongues I received a blank stare.

The water is still cold. But we like to wear bathing suits under our clothes just in case. Layers are appropriate for spring.

Mr. Grackle isn't sure about the seed mix. "Check the expiration dates if you buy from Ocean State Job Lots," I was told. Good advice.

This group meets every Wednesday for canasta. "We could use a sixth," said Mrs. Littlehorse.

It seems I ruffled someones feathers when I mentioned the 50 states quarter program.

The Blue Jay twins just discovered they were adopted. "I always thought we were different," Billy Blue Jay said.

Paramount aka Hippodrome nee Paramount
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Having recently joined the Quaboag Hills Photography Club I was privy to a
photowalk they arranged at the old Paramount Theater, or Hippodrome as it
was k...

2 years ago

Off The Shelf: The Finest Hours by Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman

From Booklist: In a 1952 nor’easter, the distress of two ships off Cape Cod initiated a dramatic Coast Guard operation recounted here by coauthors Tougias and Sherman. Both vessels were World War II surplus, cheaply built, unwisely kept in service, and broken in two by the storm. All four halves floated, for the moment, and the authors’ narrative accordingly tracks four separate search-and-rescue efforts that form the complete story. The most prominent, in the press at the time and in official honors conferred afterward, concerned one motorized lifeboat, a puny 36 feet long and manned by four men, dispatched to do battle with the maelstrom’s towering waves. This is the seascape of The Perfect Storm, and the authors do justice to the peril in a tight account of the action. Plotting the course of CG36500, the utilitarian name of the lifeboat captained by Bernie Webber (interviewed for this book), Tougias and Sherman reach their peak of tension in the sink-or-swim moments when mariners abandoned ship and chanced their lives on their rescuers’ skill and bravery. An excellent entry in the disaster-at-sea genre. --Gilbert Taylor

A collision of memories, time and space

Our focus is on Western Massachusetts. Our postings are mostly of common images that folks might come across in their everyday journeys. Wall graffiti, lampposts, ticket booths, street scenes, wildlife, forests and discarded objects are regular themes.
We started blogging with a focus on the history of our families and how the places they have lived evolved over time. We are most interested in how the past and present collide and launching the reader into a place where memories of prior experiences and places mingle with their everyday lives.
-- Bob Genest